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35 I i a road under a usualload-'theV tirerevolvesv UNITED STATES@ PATENT OFFICE-.

WILLIAM Iv MURDOCII, or BOSTON, AND .OIIIN O. IIOLLINCS, or CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, SAIDMURDOCK ASSICNOR To SAID I-IoLLINeS.Y

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SPECIFICATION forming pair-,bf Letters Patent No. 605,117, dated .time 7, 189s. Application nel August 28, 1897. Serial No'. 649,884. un model.)

To all whom it mayooncejn; 1

Be it known that We, WILLIAM N..MURl DOCK, of Boston, county of Suffolk', and JOHN C. HOLLINGS, of Cambridge, county of Mid-- dlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement. in Vehicle'l`i res,`of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a 'specication, like'letters on the drawings representing like parts.

Our invention is an improvement invepicyculartires, the object of our invention being to provide'a good commercial tire adapted to the usual vehicle-wheel rim, yet doing away with the very considerable frictional resistance'that exists at present in the ordinary pneumaticor other resilient tire.

We have discovered by experiment that the t actual plane of relativemovement upon which the wheel runs is neither the ordinarily-Supposed one where the tire',` rests upon the roadbed nor in the caseiof aiwheell provided with a tire within. which the felly may turn is it the plane or line of surface between the tire and the felly, but is in a line within the tire itself, which has in consequence alonger periphery than the felly.

The vertical yielding to slight inequalities of pneumatic or other resilient tire, the various features of ouninvention being, however, particularly intendedl'forfand adapted in the road of a A resilient tire, as that term is commonly understood, has nothing Whatever to do with the pulling or propellingfeatures of the tire.

when a wheel'provided with a-vtir'e free -to move on its rim' o' r felly-is pushed along over upon the ffelly proportienallylalways Ato theY amount of cushioning-say two/,inches for every ten feet ofhorizontal travel-so that it will be evident that in the case of theusual pneumatic Wheel where the tire is longitudi-v nally immovable on the felly the radial ref siliency or piling-up movement of the rubber which occasions this creeping or relativeV travel of thevltire on the felly causes just so much hindranceto the forward movement of the wheeL--inasfxnuchgas everytime the rub-V "We have alluded to pushing a wheel forward. The'result is the same whether movingr'itlonra horizontal surface or uphill or downhill, and, in fact, we have found it to be thesame even in 'strongly back-pedaling when riding downhill on a bicycle provided with our tire.

Our invention comprises means for holding anrordinary pneumatic tire On a usual bicycle or other wheel rim.

i Otherfeatures of our invention and the various ldetails thereof will bemore `fully pointed Yout inthe following description and particularlydetined in thel appended claims, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, illustrative of a preferred embodiment off our invention. l

` lnthe drawings, Figure 1 1s a side elevation of a'usual bicycleLwheel provided with our im- 'provedtire Fig. 2 is a perspectivedetail showgto a pneumatic tire. Our experiments have demonstrated thatv of the tire we provide a holding-ripa, Within Qwhichfaie mounted or embedded' securing i prongs 'or lian ges a', ypefe'rablylinseparated order and staggeredrelation, as herein shown,

j On the under or inner circumferential side parts has been found practically advantageous, although We do not wish'itolimitourselves thereto, inasmuch as any means for providing the flanges a', adjacentthe edges of a holding-rib, may be providedand would be Within the 'scope of ourinvention.- v`rlhe tire as Ythus'arranged is mounted directly IOO upon a wheel-felly B, said felly in Fig. 2 being shown as an ordinary concaved felly or wheel-rim, along the edges of which plates l) are secured, being shown as overlapped at b', said plates having their edges b2 turned inwardly to overhang the rim and provide annular ways to receive the flanges c', so that the latter may travel loosely longitudinally therein as the tire A moves along relatively to the felly B in its ereepin g action, as already described, and yet securely hold the tire on the wheel against the rolling action thereof in turning corners, dsc., which would tend to twist the tire out of engagement with the telly.

In Fig. 5 we have shown the ways for the flanges a as formed by grooving out the felly itself at Zr* instead of securing the plates t) thereto, or said felly may be rolled out of sheet metal.

In Fig. t it will be observed that We have also directly mounted the tire upon afellyB, but have not used the holding-rib and flanges to secure it, having placed the tire A on the felly in the position it usually occupies when it is cemented thereto, and over the tire we have placed a covering-jacket a5, provided with loops a" along its edges at each side of the tire and felly and have stretched annular hoops or wires al through these loops around the wheel, thereby securely retaining the tire against removal from the felly, while at the same time permitting free travel thereof longitudinally around the wheel.

In operation the tire, as is well understood, yields to the pressure of its load, becoming horizontally oblate or flattened, there being, however, an entire absence in our novel tire of all the usual and serious resistance due to the inability of the tire to move 011 the felly, the tire on the contrary moving freely along as the creeping motion thereof gives it tendency to move, and because of the flattening of the tire it bears against and mainly upon the outer surfaces of the portions h2, Fig. 2, or of the edges of the felly in Figs. t and 5, and slips along these with exceedingly little retardation, the retaining devices a or a5 al securely holding the tire in place and at the same time offering no obstacle to its free longitudinal movement relatively to the felly.

Various changes and modifications maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention.

Having fully described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination with a vehicle-wheel,

of a yielding, eompressible tire mounted di reetly fiat upon and eoextensive with the width of the felly of the wheel in immediate contact with the felly, and free to move longitudinally thereon, and provided at the edges of the felly with retaining devices to prevent the tire from being moved transversely tothe felly, Without interfering with said longitudinal movement, substantially as described.

2. he combination with a vehicle-wheel, of ayielding,compressible tire mounted thereon and free to move longitudinally of the felly, said tire being provided at its inner annular side with retaining-flanges permanently secured thereto, and said telly being provided with overhanging portions at its edges lapped over toward each other and on top of said flanges to form ways for said flanges to travel within substantially as described.

3. The combination with a wheel, of ayielding, comprcssible tire mounted thereon to move freely along its felly, said tire having a holding-rib permanently secured to its inner side, said holding-rib being provided with lateral llanges throughout its length,and overhanging portions bent in toward each other in a plane approximately parallel to the bearing-surface of the felly to embrace and retain said flanges, substantially as described.

4. A tire having a holding-rib permanently formed on its inner side, said rib having f1xedly embedded therein a wire bent sharply zigzag, the angular portions thereof projecting out laterally from the edges of the said rib and overhanging the adjacent portions of the tire proper, substantially as described.

5. The combination with a vehicle-wheel, of a tire mounted immediately upon and against the felly or rigid rim of the wheel, said tire being freely yielding and resilient throughout its entire cross-section from its tread to and including the portion in Contact with the felly, and free to move longitudinally on the felly, and retaining means preventing lateral movement but not interfering with the said free resiliency and yielding of the entire tire nor with said longitudinal movement, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this speeilication in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

VILLIAM N. MURDOCK. JOHN C. llOliLlNGS.

\Vitnesses:

GEo. 1I. MAXWELL, AUGUsTA E. DEAN.

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